Miscellany

She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has released another book, and thus to help further her sales has said something rather naughty about 9/11 widows. Whether or not her thoughts on how victims can be afforded an unfair amount of protection for their political views is valid, she is definitely using a rather vulgar amount of rhetoric to advance her business interests (ie., sell more books). I think that this profitting off the statements about the 9/11 widows is unarguably more reprehensible than victims of any tragedy speaking out from their unique and unfortunate perspectives. On 9/11, we were not all widows, and we should respect those who were’s opinions for what they are - personal, passionate, and uniquely informing.

In better news, I had a beautiful moment at the airport Saturday night upon returning from DC where upon my mp3 player performed the Mark Isham’s title music from Crash at just the right moment. That track usually makes my hairs dance with delight anyway, but this combination of the right place (airport terminal) and the most sympathetic frame of mind (that post-disembarkment calm) with Isham’s glorious sweeping synths just about blew my mind. Music for Airports 2: Electric Boogaloo?

Speaking of global warming, I had the good fortune to find myself invited to see An Inconvenient Truth while up in Washington D.C.. Just as a warning, I have developed quite a fondness for our planet in the last 29 years of my life, so I might just have some bias when it comes to the issue of protecting it. I also cannot see the serious, long-term harm in being overcautious about the environment. Even if human society doesn’t contribute significantly to the trends seen in global warming (which would be against the vast majority of scientific findings), wouldn’t it just be safer to assume the worst and try to mitigate what we’re doing? I’m not going to go on about this other than to just suggest, whatever your opinion on the matter, to be more informed about the facts, whichever side they support.

Finally, as we all in Florida look incredulously at our weather reports (its only mid-June!!!), let’s talk about God (deities, man). I am reading such an interesting book on the development of God in the world’s major religions. A History of God by Karen Armstrong was my travelling companion last week on the flights to and from DC. I must admit that I’m a rather slow non-fiction reader and am thus only up through the first 100 pages, but even still I am receiving such a great refresher course in theology! I’ve always been fascinated with theology and used to study and argue it with my teachers at ye ol’ Protestant parochial school, but its been far too long since I last seriously tucked into it. Another post, perhaps, I’ll share with you some of what I’ve learned and relearned.

DC and Back Again

Wednesday morning, 6am, I was on a plane to DC. I had planned this trip a few weeks back, and I was dreading each moment that brought it closer. In general, I do really enjoy going to DC, but after all the stuff with my father and going down to WPB three times in the past two weeks, I was pretty much over going anywhere but home. It didn’t help matters any that the night before my flight, I was going with Patrick and some friends to see Imogen Heap at the Social. The concert got out around 12:30 after a decently long wait and opening by a former classmate of my brother’s Daniel Kiedis, but as always, Miss Heap was divine. Her live show has improved significantly since I saw her last in Philadelphia earlier this year. She even used a keytar!!

Anyway, back to DC. I had the unnatural luck of getting off my plane and to work in exactly one hour. Anyone who’s ever flown in to Dulles, or really any airport for that matter, can appreciate that waiting is the norm when traveling. On this occasion, I waited for nothing - nobody at the rental place, no traffic on the toll road, security that was ready for me. I got in to work, did my thing, and everything worked. Well, everything on my end, anyway. There’s just nothing in the world like loading up your team’s software and being able to sit back and smile when everything works the way it should. The only thing that comes close is when everything doesn’t work, but you know for a fact that its not your fault. Priceless.

Things were good enough Wednesday afternoon that I had absolutely no problem leaving a little early to go to my hotel and crash. The hotel was brilliant, only a month old, still steeped in that new everything smell. My evening was full of Lebanese food, relaxed boredom, and a little Keith Olbermann before bed. All-in-all a decent way to wind down.

The next day was even better as I managed to check off pretty much everything else on my list. Keri was due back from a business trip later that night, so I went back and napped a bit after work. We went out for Thai later that evening followed by some after-dinner belt shopping. I cannot understand why people spend over $100 for a belt, but then again, I have been told that I am quite cheap. Still, I did eventually find a decent belt on Friday at Target for a wapping $7. So much more worth it.

Work finished up early on Friday, and after turning in my rental with Keri, we went back to Arlington for dinner. I should have known better than believe that we’d find good Mexican in Arlington, VA, the capitol of pretentious dining, but it did come highly recommended. Keri and I were nauseated after only a few bites. Blech, just the memory of it makes me queasy. After retching, we drove up to Baltimore to see Tony. It was great to visit, even if it was all too brief. He’s doing really well up there and about to graduate with his masters from Peabody Conservatory. I can’t blame him for not wanting to leave that area, but Florida would be greatly enriched by his presence.

So are we bored yet? I must admit that my attention is currently split between this post and a back-to-back marathon of The Sopranos. Anyway, back to the story. Saturday we took our sweet time getting up but eventually made it out to the nearby farmer’s market. Past disparaging comments about Arlington aside, I did rather enjoy finding a farmer’s market within two blocks. I know that there’s zero likelihood of finding such a thing at our current home, but someday.

And therein lies the problem. Every time I go up to DC, I realize just what we don’t have in Orlando. I’m torn between the desire to have opportunities, excitement, and culture around every corner, to be with dear friends that I see far too infrequently, or to have my current life with family nearby, affordable housing that lets me garden, and the opportunity to work in three very seperate capacities at once. Either way, I’m not going anywhere soon. Given our current obligations, we’re not going anywhere for at least a year. Then, who knows.

Aight, I’m drifting off even as I type. Let’s wrap this story up with a quick “and they all lived happily ever after.” Tomorrow’s already here, and I guess I should sleep before it needs me. Night all.

Post-Sakura

I missed the cherry blossoms in DC yet again. Each year for the last few year, I’ve been sent up to DC for work around the time of their Cherry Blossom Festival. And each time, its post-blossom. Last year it was only a few weeks after the festival; this year I arrived on the last day of the festival. One of these trips, maybe I’ll make it during the festival, though more likely something will come up and I’ll still miss it.

I really do enjoy the area up here, the insane amount of food, culture, and the crazy diversity of people. Not that Orlando or West Palm Beach (where I’m from) is podunk or anything, but the greater DC metropolitan area just feels more modern, cultured, dare I say it, civilized. I’m starting to feel that if the marriage “protection” amendment passes in Florida in 2008, and the Virginia one fails coming up, I’m going to start looking for opportunities for us up here. The housing and subsequent transportation costs are still crazy high, but I’m sure Patrick and I could find something that would work.

Of course, then I wouldn’t have to worry about missing the cherry blossoms! Not to mention that Patrick and I could potentially have marriage/civil-union rights and adopt some children. You know, with all that money we’d be saving by living up here. Did I mention how expensive it is yet?

After the first night of eating much and running around DC and last night of walking around Arlington, tonight I think we shall drive around the Falls Church area, perhaps to find some fabric for the quilting elves back home. Oh yeah, and eat more. Probably Lebanese. Chow!

Fly for Free!

Color me impressed. The CEO of Ireland’s Ryanair is working on giving away more than half the seats for free to travelers! Imagine how liberating that would be, how greatly it would improve relationships that span state and country borders! Missing your dear friends up in Washington D.C. but don’t have the routine $200 to pay for the round-trip, no problem!

Well, no problem as long as you don’t require free peanuts, sodas, seat pockets, or have luggage to check…or mind looking at ads everywhere around you. That, of course, is where some of the obviously missing profits are gained. But you know, I have absolutely know problems with this. An airline doesn’t have to be much more than it is - the quickest way to get you from point A to point B.

Given that many of our nation’s airlines are sucking hind teet at present, here’s to hoping that this new plan takes off. So to speak.

Imogen Heap Concert

We got into the city just before 6 and started walking around South Street. After checking out a few interesting stores (partly to pass time, partly to get warm), we wandered into an Irish bar to have a drink. We didn’t join the crowd waiting outside the TLA until about 7, at which point they began letting us in the venue. Though Justin wanted to grab one of the few seats up top, I elected to stand close to the stage. This was an unfortunate choice on my part, as we then stood in roughly the same spot for the next 3 hours.

At 8, Miss Heap (Immi if you’re nasty) arrived on stage to introduce the opening artist Zoe Keating. Zoe is a cello player who samples, loops, and layers herself many times over in each song. She had a few technical difficulties and was quite obviously nervous, but I really enjoyed her music and appreciated the skills it takes to do that kind of performance.

Imogen came on around 9pm and started out with her own techincal difficulties. First the speakers were rattling, then her earbud monitors were picking up the security chatter, then her wireless mic was cutting out. It was a rough start, but she pushed through it all with patience and grace and quite simply performed her ass off. Though many of the arrangements were reduced down to pre-recorded tracks and piano, she occassionally brought in her “chorus” (harmonizer) and mbira (a kind of non-Western tuned plucked string instrument) to fill out the performance. Zoe also came back to accompany with her unique style of cello for a couple songs.

After doing a couple requisite encore songs, Imogen left the stage around 10:30. While I very much enjoyed the concert, I was quite ready to be out of there and did not stick around for the signing after. Instead, Justin and I went to grab cheese steaks at Jim’s around the corner, then to some local diner where they had cake with a practically all-butter butter-cream icing, and finally to a college sports bar near his house to hang with his friends. Oh yeah, and there was snow. Snow in the air, snow on the cars, snow on the ground. For this Florida-native, it was quite a novel treat to complete an already fantastic evening.

SnowNPhilly

30thStStation

Waiting for Justin

Train2NY

Providence -> NY

Providence

Waiting for the train

Quahog

From Rhode Island

Not Quite Quahog

I’m back in Newport, Rhode Island again. This time, there’s less rain, but its just about as cold as when I was here in November. I flew in on Wednesday via a sunrise flight and got straight to work after only a minor hiccup with the facility’s security office.

The rental place surprised me with a PT Cruiser (instead of the usual Escort or Kia Rio) with Sirius satellite radio! Though I’ve been following the rise of satellite radio for several years, I actually have never tried it on. After listening to a little behind-the-scenes about Howard Stern’s radio show on the Howard Stern news channel, I switched to the OutQ channel for the Michelangelo Signorile Show. After reading him for years in the Advocate, I was pleased to find that his wit and wisdom wasn’t dumbed down or fluffed up.

Tomorrow I’ll be returning to work for the morning, hopefully helping my coworkers back home fix a few bugs before I drive back to Providence to return my rental. Then its the shuttle to the train station, where I’ll be wending my way down the coast, through New York City, to Philadelphia. I’ll be spending the weekend with my little frat brother Justin and seeing Miss Imogen Heap there this Saturday night. I’m thrilled to be able to catch one of my new favorite musicians live in concert, especially since she won’t be coming anywhere near Orlando anytime soon.

Still no sign of the Griffin family, but I’ll keep looking.